Episode 10 Great TV Mistakes

Hello, I'm Robert Webb.

Welcome to Great TV Mistakes.

Now, I know what you're saying - "But people in telly don't make mistakes.

"They're all perfect, like you, Rob."

Not true. Everyone makes mistakes.

You just called me Rob, for instance.

And no-one but no-one calls me Rob unless I give them permission. Understand?!

Don't worry. People in telly are just like you.

They mess up. A crew member appears in the back of shot, a prop changes colour,

someone commissions another series of My Family.

Mistakes get made, and that's where we come in.

We find these embarrassing errors and make a show out of them.

Some people might call that schadenfreude. I just call it funny.

Enjoy.

Here's a clip from American series Bones, and the perennial question,

how do you pass the time on a long trip through the desert?

I know. How about looking at the back projection and trying to spot

when the cyclorama suddenly changes from flat scrub to mountainscape in a split second. Are we there yet?

There we are. Your turn.

And...cut.

Great work, everybody. Who wants to play I-spy?

I spy with my little eye something beginning with C.

It's Crap FX, isn't it?

It's Skins, and lovely Tony

is about to tuck into a delicious tuna sandwich.

Mmm, I love sandwiches. Conversely, most directors hate them.

They're a continuity nightmare.

And we're off. Bite one to the left.

Which is now two bites big.

That'd really put a dampener on your day.

And whole again. First bite again to the left.

Look what you're doing to your mate.

He doesn't know what day it is.

-But now multiple bites to left and right.

-Have some tuna sandwich.

-It'll make you feel better.

-Are you sure? I'm feeling a bit dizzy.

No, no, no, leave it.

Leave it. He's at it as well.

Tony is back to a one-bite sandwich. Two bites.

Bites right and left.

No, two bites to the left.

-Hi, Tony.

-Oh, beat it, kids, I'm trying to concentrate.

Multiple bites again right and left.

Oh, I've changed my mind, I hate tuna sandwiches.

You got a whacking lot of doughnuts.

Yes, food is a continuity nightmare, especially on Skins.

Look, Pandora dives into this bag of doughnuts and grabs one with yellow icing.

Takes a couple of bites, one, two.

Now it's half-gone.

Suddenly, it's all gone.

Takes a pink one.

Which is now yellow.

And back to pink with two bites out of it.

Then just one bite.

And now it's gone.

Hello.

And back again!

-That's doughnut madness.

-Effie. So glad to meet you.

Go on, my son, go on, go on!

Classic comedy from Only Fools And Horses, with some less-than-classic

"standing around waiting for a cue" work from actor Lennard Pearce.

Here it comes. Wait for it, Lennard.

Oh, Lennard!

I blame the director. It's not really Grandad's fault.

He's so old. He's probably just stuck to the lino.

It's Friends in Vegas.

Here comes Chandler. He sees Monica having fun with another fellow,

and all melancholy, he turns to leave.

And leave again. You might think they just used the same shot twice, and you'd be right.

You will not be better until they've...

In this clip from the first series of Red Dwarf, Craig Charles

is enjoying Craig Ferguson's lines and big acting so much, he joins in.

I don't know, is it some place near Uruguay?

Oh, you missed it, didn't you?

Try again and keep your eyes on little Craig.

-HIGH-PITCHED:

-"I don't know, is it some place near Uruguay?"

Lovely bit of close-harmony acting.

Just let her go.

-Go ahead, shoot.

-Agent Mulder is in a stand off with a villain.

He's probably an alien in disguise, they usually are.

Like all good FBI agents, though, he's got his earpiece in so that

he can listen to Chris Moyles and fight the alien hordes.

Which is harder? You decide.

This scene is crying out for a close-up of Mulder wrestling with his conscience

and finally shooting the baddie.

Unfortunately, they didn't get one, so they'd to film it later

when he wasn't wearing an earpiece.

Embarrassed in front of millions.

Sorry, Dave.

Here's the lovely Jennifer Ehle

in Pride And Prejudice, playing the piano.

Except she isn't, because when we see inside,

none of the hammers are moving.

Although, she's definitely got my hammers moving,

if you know what I mean.

Actually, I'm not sure if even I know what that means.

He had it shipped over from Scotland.

Ever wondered what Superman's teenage years were like?

Me neither, but that didn't stop them making Smallville.

In between popping zits and shouting at his parents, Clark has found time to visit young Lex Luthor.

Nice house.

Shame you can see those two pieces of white tape on the parquet floor,

put there by the crew to let Lex know where to stand.

That's what we in TV call a mark.

-And a mistake.

-What's the matter?

-You don't like it?

-No, it very bad.

Three days after my funeral,

Lynette replaced her grief with a much more useful emotion.

In this clip from Desperate Housewives, Lynette is at the mall

with those three naughty sons of hers and the baby, in pink, in the trolley.

I can only imagine.

Uh-oh, two of the boys have done a runner.

But one bad pick-up shot later, and it looks like all four have scarpered.

At least she's still got her pink blanket.

Whichever way you look at it, that is borderline careless.

-Lynette Scavo?

-Crap.

With live TV, you just have to go with it.

In this climactic scene in the live 'StEnders episode,

see if you can spot the moment when the cameraman trips.

Oh!

Here is a sequence to make the Avatar team blush and then pat

the Dr Who effects department on the head and say, "Oh, bless."

When this spaceship crashes into the tower of Big Ben, suddenly, the numerals are back-to-front.

Because someone made a boob in the CGI and had to

flip the shot to make it look like the spaceship enters from the right.

The technique of flipping can also be used on your own TV remote every time Simon Cowell comes on.

The king will therefore be requiring a new mistress.

Dr Tennant again, in this clip,

leaning on a balustrade in 18th-century France,

spying on Madame Pompadour.

She senses his presence, turns, but sees nothing.

Not even his hand touching the wall.

Because he isn't. But, in the next shot, he clearly still is.

Maybe he's developed the power of invisibility.

She's in for a surprise at bedtime.

And finally, if it's bad shot choices you're after,

and who isn't, then check this. Here's Buffy,

undertaking a vampires slayer's least onerous of tasks,

picking up and putting down a pair of glasses.

See if you can spot the gaffe.

Yep.

Wearing two pink rings on her fingers,

she places the specs on the table, unfolded, with both hands.

But in the close-up, the glasses have been folded,

and are now put down by a single hand wearing a silver ring

on a completely different table.

-That, with the best will in the world, was really

-BLEEP.

Thanks to all of our contributors for being so sloppy.

It's a good job it's telly and nothing more important, like a paper round,

otherwise you'd have been fired. Bye-bye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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